The Daisy Award in Travel Nursing
Deb Hewus, a GQR Healthcare travel RN, was a recent recipient of The Daisy Award for Extraordinary Nursing for the kindness and compassion she provides to her patients. Perhaps the highest praise a nurse can receive is that they care for their patients as well as they would their own family. “As a Travel nurse this is exceptional; travel nurses are not normally looked to for exceptional care, certainly not at an awards level. Unfortunately, the hard work that we do is often in the background.” Deb explains.
Assumptions are sometimes made that travel nurses do not provide the same level of care as permanent nurses, which may be why it is usually more common to see the Daisy Award given to staff level RNs. We applaud Deb for demonstrating that “Temporary” doesn’t mean lower quality of care. “As part of my recognition for becoming a Daisy nurse, GQR Healthcare provided me with a $5,000 travel voucher to anywhere that I want to go. That was just an amazing little cherry on top of the ice cream Sundae for me. I was fortunate to have traveled quite a bit before and after I had children, but one place my kids had not been to was Hawaii. And this was our ticket!” Deb exclaimed excitedly.
When we asked why Deb loves working as a travel nurse with GQR Healthcare, this is what she told us.
“Honestly, the best part is the relationship I have with the people in the organization. I feel like I’m part of a company, not just an asset, that I have value, and that I have great support for my own personal goals.” -Debora Hewus, RN, BSN
We all wish for the highest level of quality healthcare for ourselves and our loved ones, and it’s a true joy to hear stories about our travelers making a difference and providing incredible patient care nationwide!
Created by The DAISY Foundation™—an acronym for Diseases Attacking the Immune System—The DAISY Award was established by family members in memory of J. Patrick Barnes. Barnes died at the age of 33 in late 1999 from complications of Idiopathic Thrombocytopenic Purpura (ITP), a little known but not uncommon auto-immune disease. The care Barnes and his family received from nurses while he was ill inspired this unique means of thanking nurses for making a profound difference in the lives of their patients and the patient’s’ family and friends. Today, more than 5,000 health care facilities and nursing schools worldwide honor nurses with The DAISY award.
Nurses can be nominated for The DAISY Award online at sghs.org/daisy-award, or nominations may be placed in DAISY boxes located throughout the Health System’s Brunswick and Camden campuses. A committee consisting of Health System team members, including clinical and non-clinical staff, leadership, medical staff and board members, review the nominations and determine The DAISY Award recipient(s).
Sources: [www.daisyfoundation.org/ Accessed 31 October 2022.]